Multi-purpose container



March 21, 1961 D. w. PENNINGTON ETAL 2,975,930

MULTI-PURPOSE CONTAINER Filed Feb. 10, 1959 DAVIS w. PEHHIHGTOH CHAQLESA. PEHQHHGTQH INVENTORS.

BY 77/4 y/%%M ATTORNEYS atent ce 2,975,930 Patented Mar. 21, 1961MULTI-PURPOSE CONTAINER Davis W. Pennington, Northridge, Calif. (1617 S.Walnut St., Anaheim, Calif.), and Charles A. Pennington, Burbank, Calif.(17620 Devonshire, Northridge, Calif.)

Filed Feb. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 792,400

3 Claims. (Cl. Mil-23.4)

This invention relates generally to containers and more particularly tospecial containers which may be converted or adapted for other usesafter serving as containers.

There are many instances where the consumer, over a period of time, usesconsiderable quantities of liquids and other goods sold in containerswhich have no useful purpose once they are emptied. For example, in themaintenance of home swimming pools, the water is circulated through afilter and chemicals added from time to time to inhibit plant growth.Chlorine solutions are commonly used, being sold in bottles. Over aperiod of several months many bottles of the solution are required. Ittherefore is a particular object of the invention to provide a novelcontainer suitable for use initially in the sale and distribution ofgoods, which, once it has been emptied has a variety of other possibleuses.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide a novelcontainer constructed for use in conjunction with one or more similarcontainers, after the same have been emptied of their original contentsfor creating novel designs of a three-dimensional character useful asornamental and utilitarian structures and useful as floats.

A further object is to provide a novel means for readily connecting twocontainers of the type indicated hereinabove.

A still further object is to provide a novel stand which can be used inconjunction with the container.

These and other objects will be apparent from the drawing and thefollowing description. Referring to the drawing, which is forillustrative purposes only:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a container embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of three empty containers joined togetherto form a unitary element suitable for use as a float and for otherpurposes;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the adjacentportions of any two of the containers of Fig. 1, illustrating theconnection means of the invention which serves to secure the containerstogether; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale of the upperand lower ends of one of the containers.

More particularly describing the invention, we provide a hollowcontainer 11 Which is preferably spherical in form. The container has abody 12 in the form of a wall of a suitable plastics material of a typewhich is not attacked by the substance to be held in the container and atype which will not readily fracture should the container be dropped. ByWay of example polyethylene may be used. The container body 12 isprovided with an annular inwardly projecting neck 14 which is formed toprovide relatively rounded internal threads 15. The container is shownclosed by a cap or plug 16 which is threaded into the neck. Theparticular cap shown is provided with a ring-like handle portion 17which is preferably of a size to accommodate one or more fingers in thehole 18 thereof. Such a cap is also useful for stringing several of thecontainers on a line. If desired, a flattopped cap or plug may be usedinitially and the ring type substituted after the container has servedits original purpose, or vice versa.

The container is provided with a plurality of sockets 20 each of whichis formed by an inwardly extending internally threaded annular wallsection 21 and an end wall section 22. Several of these sockets may beprovided in any desired pattern. However, We prefer to provide five suchsockets spaced apart, and one being spaced with reference to the neck14. During shipment, and during its period of life as a container, itmay be desirable to utilize a stand or base for supporting the containerin upright position. Thus we show a detachable base 25 having a bodycharacterized by a concave wall section 26 of the same general curvatureas the body of the container and a conical outwardly flaring marginalwall 27. A hollow externally threaded stud portion 28 projects from thecenter of the wall 26 and is adapted to be threaded into one of thesockets 20 in the container, preferably the one which is diametricallyopposite the neck 14.

As previously indicated, one of the features of the invention is toprovide a construction whereby a plurality of containers, after theyhave been emptied of their original contents, can be connected togetherin various patterns and designs for various purposes, one being to actas a multi-unit float for use in a swimming pool or the like. Thus weprovide a plurality of connector assemblies 30, each of which comprisesa pair of end couplings 31 and a center coupling 32. Each element 31 hasa threaded portion 33 adapted to be mounted in a socket 20 of acontainer and a knurled or roughened bell end portion 34 providing aninternal groove 35.

The center element 32 is provided with a pair of axially spacedperipheral flanges 37 bounded on their inner sides by shoulders 38disposed normal to the axis of the elementand by tapered outer end walls40. The latter facilitates insertion of the center element 32 into theelements 31 and in this connection it is contemplated that the means 39would be formed of a plastics material having suflicient resiliency topermit of the assembly of the parts by application of pressure. Theelement 32 is preferably hollow so that it will float in a swimmingpool.

It will be apparent that a plurality of containers may be connectedreadily by utilizing the coupling means 30 to form various-shapedcomposite devices having various uses. Although we have illustrated anddescribed a preferred form of our invention, we contemplate that variouschanges and modifications can be made therein without departing from theinvention, the scope of which is indicated by the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a composite structure having at least a pair of hollow containerbodies each provided with wall means forming a socket, a connectorassembly joining said bodies, comprising a pair of end couplingsreceived in the sockets of the pair of hollow bodies, interengagingmeans on said couplings and the socket wall means of said bodiessecuring said couplings in said sockets, a connecting coupling elementreceived in said end couplings, and interengaging means on said endcouplings and said connecting coupling detachably securing the sametogether.

2. A composite structure as set forth in claim 1 in which theinterengaging means on said end couplings and said socket wall meanscomprises screw threads, and in which said interengaging means on saidend couplings and said connecting coupling comprises a flexible flangeon one of said couplings received in a groove in the other coupling.

3. In a composite structure including a pair of spherical, hollow bodieseach formed to provide a recessed threaded socket, a connector assemblyjoining said bodies,

comprising a pair of end couplings each having athreaded end sectionreceived in a socket of one of said hollow bodies and a bell end sectionhaving an internal groove, and a connecting coupling of stiffiy flexiblematerial in the bell end sections of said endconp'lings, said connectingcoupling having a pair of axially spaced flanges received in the groovesof said end couplings, respectively.

769,615 Kosansvich Sept. 6, 1904 4 Borden u Nov. 23, 1909 Miller Jan.25, 1955 Hermann May 15, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Norway Oct. 11, 1895 ItalySept. 9, 1937

